As the song goes, "Every new beginning is some other beginning's end...".  Lynnea finished up elementary school in June and is now enjoying her first day in middle school as a big fifth grader.  Where I grew up, middle school started in the sixth grade, but I understand it varies by district.  We were very happy to be able to place Lynnea at the Arts Academy, and I'm sure it will be just the sort of environment she will love and thrive in.

It was a bit of a weepy goodbye in the auditorium, but she found an old friend, and soon was chatting away.  I'm sure within a few minutes of our leaving she had more than enough to keep her mind occupied, and I'm sure she'll love the place before long.  I'll have to call home at the end of the day and see how she did.  Can't believe how much she has grown... she'll bee a teenager in no time at all.

Anyway, congratulations Lynnea, my big girl.  Mom and Dad love you!

You can find pix from this morning here.

Please join me in wishing my wonderful sister Donna a Happy Birthday to-day!  My big sister has always been there for me when I needed her, even when I didn't know it.  You're the best, Donna, I hope you have a great birthday.  Love you!

As you know I am selling some of my MTG collection (the oldest and the bestest stuff) to finance photographic gear.  I spent awhile researching prices so my stuff could be competitively priced--which was a little challenging because for some of the hotter stuff (the Unlimited and Arabian Nights sets) there hasn't been an auction on ebay for months on these items.  I finally figured out why.  Potential sellers are waiting for a price to beat.  After months with very little in the way of complete sets of Unlimited/Arabians, within a day of me listing my sets for auction, a bunch of other sellers crawled out of the woodwork and listed their sets for auction, all undercutting me by small amounts (typically about $50), or by setting high reserves and no minimum bid.  Since all these auctions are now running simultaneously, there is suddenly a lot of options for the prospective buyer, and since mine is ending before the others, the lower-priced auctions are going to see all the action.

So at this point I don't expect the Arabians or Unlimited sets to sell, and now I'm going to have to sit around like the other campers and wait for some other seller to come along so I can undercut him or her.

Pain in the ass.  The amusing thing is, sets this rare sell so infrequently that if a seller waited until my auction was over, he'd end up doing better than he would if they all try to sell at the same time and undercut each other.  Oh well... I guess the buyers win!

Watch out!  It's time for 10 images worth of Name That Movie goodness!  First image is up now, next one at 9 AM.  Last one (the gimme) at 3:30 in the afternoon.  Get cracking folks...

Below is an image from a movie.  If you can guess the movie via that one image, do so, if not, links to further images will be posted throughout the day.  The second image should be more obvious, and the third image even moreso, and so on.  Please try not to read the comments before you guess!

NTM is JavaScript driven and will automagically make the images available at the listed times. Once you've got the page open, you can refresh the image links just by clicking the refresh button below, this will check the clock and enable further images as appropriate. Times displayed should be in your local timezone. (Yes, obviously you can cheat either by viewing the source, or simply changing the time on your clock.)

The image links will replace the primary displayed image when you mouse over them.  This way you can view the images right in the article without having to open up new windows.  You may have to wait a second or two for the new image to download before it will replace the primary image.  The original primary image will return when you mouse off of the image link.

I will, as time permits, also post the image links in comments for those of you whom cannot run javascript.

That said, here's the first image...

GOOD LUCK!!!

Well, after years of collecting, I've finally begun selling off pieces of my Magic: the Gathering trading card collection.  The collection is enormous, and I'm hopeful that I can wring enough cash out of it to get the camera gear I feel is necessary to start attempting to supplement my income.  Wish me luck!

Many years have come and gone since we held hands and walked,
Along the shore, bare feet on sand, and of the future talked,
Of days when we would marry, of days when we would be
The parents of a cherished child, of our eternity.

Life has not always been kind, to us, 'twixt then and now,
And though I'm oft preoccupied I've n'er forgotten how,
We walked  a beach, and gathered shells, and spoke of things to come,
How at your glance, or touch, or sigh, my heart would surely drum.

The pages of our love may yellow, our rose may wither dry,
As youth becomes a memory, and older age is nigh,
But the essence of that joy remains, though it may hide from sight,
My heart still holds a light for you, and it still burns as bright

As the day you first took my hand and we strolled by the sea.
You are now as you were then, the only girl for me.
And so my love, old age will come, and work on us its art,
But that one thing will never change, you're always in my heart.

And so I hope our lives stretch long into our golden years,
Through stages in our daughter's life as each new one appears,
For there are other beaches, and rippled lengths of sand,
That I would like to walk with you, together, hand in hand...

Happy sixteenth anniversary, honey.

Love you,

--C

Well I was back at the Longview Corporate Center yesterday for a followup visit.  They wanted to check me out after last week's oral surgery.  The doctor confirmed that it was normal for me to still have swelling and soreness a week later.  He said it would take awhile to recover.

But on the upside, he said that it looked like I was healing up nicely.  I thought he was going to remove the stitches today, but he said that they were dissolving stitches and we would just let them fall out on their own.  For the past week I've had to keep the dentures in all the time (even when sleeping), the doctor said it was necessary to stretch out the tissue.  But now he has reversed those instructions and told me to take them out as often as possible.  Confusing business this.

Personally?  I'd really like to get through this so I can have my permanent set of dentures made.  I was hoping to get that done before my birthday in October.  Oh well, at least it doesn't hurt as bad as it did last week, and I'm starting to chew a little bit again.  Hopefully in another week or two I'll be back to full strength.